It Boggles Your Mind...

Boggle is another Hasbro Interactive game I got for free while buying some cereal for my kids’ breakfast. I’m ashamed to admit that my vocabulary isn’t up to par as I thought it was. Woe is me, but Boggle may be just the game to help me.

Boggle is a game where you have 4 by 4 set of tiles/die/blocks/whatever you want to call them set out and you have to create words using three or more tiles. There’s a trick to it though, all of the letters have to be adjoined to the block next to it either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Classic
In Classic Boggle you get to choose to play either the Original version or the Master version.

In the Original version tiles are laid down 4 by 4 and your words have to be at least 3 letters long. You are timed at 3 minutes and you could play by yourself, against the computer, or against another human player. You can choose up to 3 additional players. If you choose a word that is not in the dictionary it is outlined in red and at the end of the game you are given the option to add the word to the dictionary or not. At the end of the game it gives you a list of all words that could have been made out of the letters, with the ones you have chosen already checked, displayed and your highest possible score. With the Master version all of the above is the same except tiles are laid out 5 by 5 and the words have to be at least 4 letters long.

Break-Away
In the Original version you have your tiles set up like a dice, so you have 4 by 4 tiles and 6 sides. You are able to move the “die” around to all sides to try and make words starting with at least 3 letters. Your time limit for this game is 3 minutes also. As you make up your words, those tiles are taken away from the die. A few changes to this game is that if tiles are not level you with each other, you won’t be able to use them. Also, if you chose a word that is not in the dictionary, you will be asked first if you want to add it or not before adding it to the list. In the Master version words have to be at least 4 letters long.

Battle
Battle mode allows 2 players to play against each other. You are given 5 minutes to finish a game. To play against an opponent (real or computer) you have to place blocks, one by one, on a grid that is 4 letters by 4 letters long. The same concept goes as for the Classic Boggle, except you don’t only place letters to try to make words, but you have to remember to click on letters once you have a word to make. If you do make a word, you get to keep going until you can find no more words to make. You cannot use the same word your opponent has used. The more words you make, the more time that is added to you. In Master mode you have to place tiles down to make a 5 by 5 block. A middle block is randomly placed in the middle to begin with.

Space
Space Boggle is for only one player. Same concept as Classic Boggle except you have numerous tiles floating in space up at you. In one sense this version it’s a little easier to play, but in another it’s harder because blocks will float behind other blocks and if you decide to change a word in mid-letter and one of those letters already flew off-screen, you cannot unclick it to unmark it. You will have to place the letter on your list and then click no, for the word NOT to be added to your dictionary. You are given 1 minute to come up with as many words as you can. Each word must be at least 3 letters long. In Master mode, words must be at least 4 letters long.

In Your Face
In Your Face Boggle is my favorite. You are only given 30 seconds in the original mode and your blocks are set out 4 by 4 tiles. Same rules apply except you can “raise cubes” to replace cubes you have used. One important thing to remember though, same rules apply as in Break-Away, if tiles are not even or one less, you will not be able to use that tile, and when the highest tile reaches the top, that’s the end of the game. After a certain amount of time, the tiles will raise by themselves as well. In Master mode, you are given 5 by 5 tiles and words have to be at least 4 letters long.